By IANS,
New Delhi : Hong Kong-based Pacnet, one of Asia’s leading telecommunications service providers, Tuesday said it will invest $200-300 million in India over the next two-three years.
The company also said it has increased its stake in its Indian joint venture, Pacific Internet India, from 55 percent to 74 percent, and that it would shortly apply for international long-distance (ILD) and national long-distance (NLD) licences.
“Together with our joint venture partner, FutureWorld, we have further capitalised Pacific Internet to support our network rollout in India after receipt of ILD and NLD licences,” Pacnet chief executive Bill Barney told reporters here.
Pacnet received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) three weeks ago to increase its shareholding in the joint venture and to apply for ILD and NLD licences.
“We look forward to obtaining the letter of intent from the Department of Telecom and will apply for it next week,” Barney added.
Barney also hoped that India, which contributed about 10 percent or about $70 million to Pacnet’s 2007 global revenues, would account for about 25-30 percent of global revenues in the near future.
The company logged $500 million as global revenues in 2008.
Upon approval of the necessary licences, Pacnet will offer its full suite of network services including direct Internet access as well as managed services.
Pacnet currently offers Internet services in six Indian cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon and Hyderabad and is planning to add two more.
“We are looking to acquire both telecom companies and Internet service providers in India,” Barney said adding that his company was also looking at acquisitions in Japan, China and Australia.